Lightweight Contest: Wasiru suffers first career defeat in South Africa

Ghana's Wasiru 'Gyatabi' Mohammed suffered his first career defeat in a stunning knockout to South Africa's Kaine Fourie in Johannesburg last Saturday night. 

The 28-year-old Ghanaian, a former WBO Africa and Global junior featherweight champion, started very strongly, penetrating the defence of the taller Fourie with some devastating body shots and swinging hooks that put the South African in all kinds of problems early in their eight-round lightweight contest at the Box Camp in Booysens.

The pummelling got even more ferocious in the second round, culminating in Wasiru's swinging right hand crashing Fourie to the canvas right at the end of the three allotted minutes. 

Fourie rose with a bloodied nose and mouth, the effects of the Ghanaian's powerful fists too clear for all to see but the South African was saved by the bell.

The topsy-turvy affair continued in the third round as Wasiru began with the same venom but his failure to finish off Fourie began to take its toll on the Ghanaian whose output dwindled as the round faded, but Fourie was still in trouble as he bled from the nose and lips.

Wasiru began the fourth round with the same intensity, aiming and throwing punches all over in desperate pursuit of the visibly ailing South African but the effects of his efforts, many of which were not connecting because Fourie had begun to devise a strategy to avoid the Ghanaian's hard punches. 

Soon, it worked to perfection as he stunned Wasiru with a sharp counter jab as the Ghanaian attacked and Wasiru, for the first time in his career, went down.

Wasiru dazed

He quickly rose to his feet to beat the count of referee Tony Nyangiwe, but he appeared dazed as the fight resumed. Fourie took full advantage by directing a perfect hook combination with both fists to Wasiru's chin which caused the wandering Ghanaian to fall awkwardly,  Referee Nyangiwe swiftly waived off the contest even before attending to the Ghanaian.

The hitherto unbeaten Wasiru now falls to one defead in 13 bouts but insists the setback in Johannesburg is already firmly behind as he focuses on reaching the global heights he so craves.

"I just want to give a big thanks to my fans in Ghana and all who supported me to this stage. I want to assure everyone that I am okay, I lost but I learnt a lot here. I will be back to make Ghanaians proud," Wasiru said.